The Afterwards
by Barracuda124
Summary: A story about what happened after the epilogue of The Deathly Hallows.
1. Chapter 1

It was a clear night.

There were no clouds in the sky, and stars shown dimly through the thin, hazy layer of suburban smog. The full moon blazed brightly above the calm neighborhood.

The streets were silent, as it was nearing midnight, and all of the homeowners were fast asleep. But just as the large clock above city hall in the middle of town rang twelve times, a blast of light and sound crashed through the quiet neighborhood.

As the light faded, a man came into focus. He had not been standing where he stood a moment before. He was tall, but lean, and wore a long trench coat. But strangest of all, in his hand he firmly gripped a piece of wood, about a foot long. The tip glowed a very vivid green, but as the seconds passed, the light faded to nothing.

He did not speak, as there was no one around to listen, but instead drew out of a pocket inside the coat he had on a long, thin, rectangular object—an envelope. From it he pulled out a piece of paper, with numbers and words scribbled across it. It read:

3587 Bradson Ct.

Weedy Hill, AR 86301

The man gazed around the dark cull de sac, searching for the house that matched the address on the note. He found the house; it was made of a tan brown brick, with ivy plants crawling up the sides, almost to a point that it reached the eaves of the roof. It was nothing fancy, the front was just a door set in the middle of the house, with two sets of three windows, each set equal distances apart from the door. The second story of the house had three sets of windows, each above either the door or the windows on the first floor. Nothing special. Just a boring little house.

However, the house alone was not what the man in the trench coat was searching for.


	2. Chapter 2

Albus woke up in a cold sweat. He looked across the room to see if his brother, James, was awake. He only heard slow, even breathing and the occasional fidget.

Looking to the window, he saw light from the street lamp outside seeping through the cracks in the blinds. Carefully dropping out of bed so as to not wake his parents in the room below him, he crept over to the window and lifted one of the blinds to look out. Nothing. Nothing but the branches of the large tree waving in the slight breeze. Nothing but the moon, perfectly clear and bright.

So why had he had the dream again?

It was July, in the middle of summer break in between terms of school. Albus had just finished his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and James had just completed his second. Lily, his younger sister, would be starting her first year, and would not stop talking about how excited she was. At the moment, they were off in America, visiting some distant relatives, but they would be leaving in the morning to go back home in England.

Albus glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand; it blazed in red letters: 11:59 PM. He looked back out at the street one last time, and then let the blind fall back into place, forgetting not to do so gently. The piece of wood made a soft scraping noise as it plummeted all but a couple of inches, but it was just enough to wake his brother. With a yawn and a prolonged stretch, he slowly lifted himself out of bed, and looked to where the sound had come from. Seeing Albus standing there, he said, "What are you doing up, twerp?"

"None of your business, stupid head," Albus replied moodily. He took one leap and flopped back in bed, and then flung the covers back over himself. A moment later, the numbers on the clock next to him blinked and changed to read midnight. The clock tower outside began to ring twelve times, and with each one, both of the boys nodded back into subconscious sleep. But as the last toll echoed across town, a burst of light followed by a bang like a minor explosion rocked the house, waking each resident from their peaceful slumber.

"What did you do now, Albus?" James said, not bothering to keep his voice down because he knew Lily had already run into Harry and Ginny's room.

"I haven't done anything! Why do you always blame me?" retorted Albus, equally as loud. Just then, their father opened the door and walked into the room, wand tip lit with a soft, white light. Ginny and Lily quickly followed, Lily's wand illuminated as well.

"What's going on in here?" inquired Ginny.

"I don't know, I was fast asleep until Albus woke me up. And then we heard a boom outside. It sounded like it came from the street."

Harry regarded James for a moment, then strode across the room and opened the blinds. Gazing out to the street, he saw a man in a trench coat out on the street. The man looked at a piece of paper, glanced at each house on the street, and then started walking towards their house.

"Ginny, defensive enchantments please," Harry said, forcibly acting calm in front of his children.

"Already on it, dear," Ginny responded, then raised her wand and began to mutter incantations, pointing at each wall in the room. "_Salvio Hexia… Protego Totalum… Muffliato… Repello Darkum… Protego Defensium…_"

She walked out of the room, and the family heard her walk down the stairs and began to place the same enchantments on the front of the house. After each incantation was uttered, they heard her say "_Colloportus_" and then a squelching sound, indicating that she had just sealed the front door from opening or being blasted open. A moment later she appeared in the room again.

"Thank goodness Hermoine took me to all those classes on household enchantments… she is so clever sometimes," she stated matter-of-factly. Then she walked across the room to join her husband at the window and peered out. A blue-tinted wall of magic gently floated down in front of the house, and settled on the ground with a solid thud, blocking the house from the outside world, and most importantly, the man in the trench coat. The family let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew! Good job mom! If that hadn't worked, I would've been all, pew! Pew pew pew on him," rambled James, waving his short, thick wand with each "pew". Then without warning, on the last wave of the wand, a bolt of bright red shot out of the tip of the wand and smashed a picture frame hanging on the wall. The glass shattered, and the bits and pieces fell to the floor. With a sigh, Ginny waved her wand over the mess, and all the broken pieces flew back into place, reforming the picture frame down to the last detail.

"Wow, Mom, that was awesome!" said Lily admirably. She didn't have a wand yet, but they would go shopping for one, as well as all of her other supplies for school, once they returned home.

At the window, Albus and James joined their father, and gazed out the pane of glass. The man had hesitated when the shield of blue light had fallen across his path, but he quickly drew his wand and began working countercurses on each enchantment put in place. He had already worked his way through two of them, and was hurriedly mumbling under his breath, trying to break the rest.

Harry regarded the children. "James, Albus, and Lily, you stay up here where you are safe. Your mother and I are going to find out who this man is. Leave it to us, and Stay. Here."

"But Dad, we learned basic attacks in Defense Against the Dark Arts last year! I want to at least test them out!" complained James.

"As fun as that sounds, James, you're still too young to use magic outside of school. All the more reason to stay where you are and protect your brother and sister if he gets to you guys."

"Fine… but make sure you guys keep the fight in the view of this window… I want to watch your mad skills at work."

"Ha-ha, fine by me," laughed Harry. With that, he and Ginny walked quickly out of the room and down the stairs. They heard the front door open, and saw through the window their parents walk out to the front of the house. Opening the window, the children heard Ginny ask the man in a straightforward voice who he was and what he wanted, but since he had not worked through the Muffliato charm yet, he couldn't hear what they were saying. He probably couldn't even see them either.

With a wave of her wand, Ginny broke every remaining enchantment, and the blue shield shattered to pieces, the shards all flowing back to her, and disappearing into the tip of her wand, which glowed the same hue briefly, then faded. The man stopped his frantic muttering, startled, thinking he had cracked the defenses, then saw Harry and Ginny standing a few yards away, wands raised to the level of their shoulders—in attack position. The battle that ensued was very short, for two reasons: 1) he was outnumbered two-to-one, and 2) he didn't seem much practiced in attack spells and curses, whereas Harry and Ginny had spent most of their adolescence fighting the forces of evil.

With a crack, Harry's wand shot a red bolt of light, hitting the man in the trench coat squarely in the chest, knocking him backwards several feet, unconscious even before he hit the ground. Ginny quickly followed with a Body-Binding curse, which caused the man's limbs to lock to his sides. After that, they both ran over to the man, and Harry brought the man back to consciousness with one word. Awakening slowly, his eyes glazed over briefly, the man found his body to be locked in one position, unable to move.

"Before you say anything, I want to know your name and what you want with us," said Harry aggressively.

"My name is not important, and I come bearing information about your youngest son. Now if you would take off this accursed spell, I can get on with my business," retorted the man in a gravelly voice.

Dumbfounded by this response, Ginny spoke the counter spell, and she and Harry escorted the man inside warily. 


	3. Chapter 3

Spoons clinked against ceramic as Lily and Ginny set cups and a kettle of tea on the table for six. They had escorted the man inside, and as soon as they had, the children had come running downstairs, ask a hundred questions at once, all of them shooed away be the man with a wave of his hand. All of them had gathered in the kitchen for a midnight tea session.

"So, now you have your tea, tell us what you want," demanded Harry.

"Well, I am here because your son, Albus, has shown extreme abilities Divination. We at the Ministry have been informed of very accurate predictions that were foretold by him," said the man.

"But students don't start Divination until their third year at Hogwarts!" protested Lily. "How could he have already given predictions if he hasn't even started the class?"

"Speaking predictions is not the only way to foretell the future, ma'am. I believe Albus has written about several occasions where he has had very strange yet realistic dreams. These were the foretellings. He left his journal in Transfiguration one day, and after Professor McGonagall read the first few entries, she realized them to be what they were, and immediately took them to Professor Trelawney. A few weeks later, one of the dreams came true—the Saudi Arabian president was taken hostage by rebels, and several strikes broke out in the capitol city's main square. Many weeks later, the second, and then third prophecies became true."

"I didn't realize that… but now that you mention it, that is what had happened…," replied Albus thoughtfully.

"Well if that's true, what does it matter to the ministry?" questioned Ginny.

"Because we are in need of skilled Diviners, and your son is perfect for the role."

"But he is just a child! He hasn't got but one year of magical training under his belt! He can't just be whisked away for some Ministry job!" protested Ginny.

"I understand, but we cannot waste this opportunity. A good Diviner does not happen very often, and we take every chance we get."

"But… but…," stammered Mrs. Potter.

"I assure you, he will be until total supervision the entire time, and he will only work for a few hours a day."

"Would I get payed?" inquired Albus.

"Absolutely. Err, that is, if your parents agree…"

"Fine. He can go and work at the Ministry. But I want him to work only the hours that we work, and when school begins, I want him at school and going to lessons as much as possible."

"All of that will have to be taken up with the head of the department, but I'm sure that is manageable."

"Well when exactly do we get to meet with the head of the department? Can we set up an appointment through you?"

"We can all go right away if you want. Back in England, the working day has begun already."

"By Floo Network or Side-Along Apparation?"

"Whichever you prefer, although I would suggest Apparating there, as the Floo Network will be heavily trafficked."

"What about the other children? May they come along as well?"

"Of course! Now quickly if you please—the head can get very busy very early."

Quickly picking up the cups and kettle, Ginny set them into the sink, and then told the children to go get dressed. They eagerly ran upstairs, and changed their clothes as fast as they could. James and Albus snuck their wands into their pockets, hoping for a chance to practice some spells they had learned. Galloping back down the stairs, they met their parents in the front hall. Lily joined them shortly.

"Everyone ready? Ok. James with your father, and you, young lady with your mother. Albus, you will please come with me."

"James, grab my hand, hold on tight, and hold your breath. Lily, you do the same with your mother. It will only last a few moments, but it will be pretty intense. We will all meet up together in the Ministry of Magic," instructed Harry.

"Yeah, we get it Dad. Now let's go!" James exclaimed. Neither he nor his siblings had travelled by Apparation before, and he was getting anxious to try it out.

One by one, starting with the man, Albus clinging to his wrist so tightly his knuckles were white, they disappeared in a blur. Shortly following them were Harry and James, James with an excited smile plastered across his face, followed by Ginny and Lily, the little girl with a look of pure terror on her small face. A moment later, they all appeared in the gigantic Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. The place was heavily crowded, with thousands of witches and wizards heading to the elevators going to work. The Potters struggled to keep together and keep up with the man, but eventually they arrived in the wing with the elevators. They all piled into one, and the man pulled a lever to the Roman numeral IV. The grill slid shut across the car, and the elevator jerked into motion, first going backwards, and then plummeting downwards. After a very brief and very sickening ride, the car moved into place and the grill slowly slid back open. A female voice said: _Level Four- Department of Magical Maintenance, Department of Prophecies, and Department of Magical Education._

"This is our stop," said the man, and he took off in a brisk walk down a hallway, the family jogging to keep up.


End file.
